I have been in Dallas, Texas, for the last two days at a conference at Fellowship Church. The church is a megachurch with a reported 25,000 average attendance in 2020, which started in 1990, so it has grown rapidly in the last 30 years. I haven’t attended a conference like this in quite a few years. When I first started pastoring, I would attend at least two church growth conferences every year. I did it in the 80s and 90s because I was so dumb and wanted to learn how to be a good pastor. I usually learned some things, but the primary value in going was the passion and drive I came home with from the seminar to work hard as a pastor and build God’s church. I came to this one because I was bringing two young pastors with me and hoping that it would do for them what they used to do for me. I had forgotten how successful these conferences were at motivating me. I am at the age that I don’t want to be motivated anymore, but I got all fired up anyway!! After a full day, I am back in my motel room and exhausted from getting so excited!!! One of the principles I have taught for years is that motivation is caught from others, not cranked up in our minds and hearts. You put a dead log into a fire with other logs on fire, and it is only a few minutes before it burns bright.

Today, I taught a 40-minute class on Prophecy. Then I preached a sermon on Philippians 1:1-2, my first sermon in a series that I am starting on Philippians at the church that I am Pastoring now, Jefferson Evangelical Church. Then I drove to Fairview Mennonite Church in Albany and taught a 45-minute class on Marriage, the first of six Sunday classes. Now, I am home writing this blog. I greatly enjoy teaching and preaching; a full day like today is enriching and fulfilling. My voice is about gone, and my sciatica is killing me from standing so much, but with a good night’s sleep and some ibuprofen, I will be as good as new tomorrow. Not many people have spent their lives doing what they love and have been gifted by God to do. I have been Pastoring churches, preaching, teaching, and leading for the last fifty-two years. It has been a blessing to do what I enjoy and what God has gifted me to do. I will teach an all-day seminar on March 22nd on “Spiritual Gifts.” We will talk about the various gifts, talents, and abilities, take numerous tests to help us figure out who we are, and discuss ways to use our gifts and skills for God. In the area of your giftedness, you are supernatural, and when you serve in that area, you are fulfilled, energetic, and successful.

I have about 30 fruit trees, primarily apples, six pears, and a few cherry trees. Today, I started pruning them with the help of my grandson, Josiah. He is tall, and I don’t get on ladders anymore, so he does most of it. I got a cordless, electric set of pruning shears for Christmas, so my part is even easier. I watched a YouTube video on how to prune an apple tree, so I am an expert now. We get a lot of apples and pears in the Fall, so the work is worth it. I have memorized John chapter 15; the first two verses are fascinating and perplexing at the same time.
John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
So, what does it mean to be taken away? What does it mean to be pruned? One obvious meaning is that God wants me to bear fruit and more fruit, always more. A few verses later, in verse 8, he says, “This glorifies My Father, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” My Duke translation says it this way, “God wants me to bear fruit, and because I am His disciple, He will sovereignly work in the details and circumstances in my life and my heart so that I continue to grow and bear more and more fruit for His glory.” Every morning in my morning prayer of commitment, I say, “Lord, I am Your disciple by commitment, so I know that You will do in me, through me, and around me what is necessary for me to bear much fruit. I want that Lord, I want to bear fruit, and I want to glorify You.”

Today is Valentine’s Day! I am taking Patty to a Valentine’s Dinner at JBC. Wow! I am so romantic! When I was in the fifth grade, Mrs Gibbs, our teacher, said we all needed to bring Valentine’s cards for everyone in the class. That was in Alameda, California, the last place my Dad was stationed before he retired, and we moved to the farm in Oregon. We had only lived there for a month, so I didn’t know many kids in my class. I was not very excited about this assignment. I didn’t know the names of very many, and I didn’t know what to write on the cards. I didn’t want to write “I love you,” as Mrs Gibbs suggested, to kids I didn’t know, for that matter; I didn’t want to write I love you even to the ones I knew. My Mom solved my problem by buying some premade cards for kids, and all I had to do was sign them and hand one out to each kid in my class. As I handed out my cards, I noticed that most of the boys were doing the same thing, and one was giving out a little candy heart to each person. I have been memorizing the book of 1 John. I just about have it done. The book’s theme is “love,” and there are a lot of verses on love in the five chapters; here are a few.
1 John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:11-12 Beloved, if God loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, perfecting His love in us.
1 John 4:20-21 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
The primary way we love is by forgiving anybody of anything, just as God has forgiven us. Another key way, according to 1 John, is by helping, coaching, and encouraging one another as we all struggle to live life for God. One of the things I did for Patty was to make a list for her of what I committed to doing for her every time I said, “I love you.” I say “I love you” to my church family before I preach, and I have made a list that I review often of what saying I love you means; it is a statement of commitment.

When I was a kid and lived in Trout Lake, we used to get lots of snow—often over five feet. One of our winter chores was to keep the area in front of the milk house clear of snow so the milk truck could get in to pick up our milk. We also had lots of fun wintertime activities. One was to crawl around in the tunnels the pigs made as they went around the pasture, looking for something to eat. They got out of their pens because of the snow. The tunnels were perfectly round as a pig and just the right size to fit in if we were on our knees. Another activity was when Dad would pull us around the pasture on the hood of an old car that was upside down with the old Willys jeep. And then there were the good, old-fashioned snowball fights. We would make snow forts and barriers to hide behind as we attempted to hit someone else with a well-aimed snowball. Our grandkids were having fun today in the snow, building snowmen, and having snowball fights. The bigger grandkids went to the church parking lot and spun around in the snow, making “cookies” in their cars. I canceled my classes for tonight and stayed home, sat in my recliner, and read. It was a very comfortable day as I regularly got up, put more wood in the fire, and got a refill of coffee. Today’s big fun was celebrating our oldest daughter, Sarah’s 50th birthday. Quite a few people came over today to celebrate despite the snow, and we ate a lot, talked, and played games. I have difficulty believing I am old enough to have a 50-year-old daughter! Life keeps moving on. It was a perfect day. Tomorrow probably will be another slow day because of the weather. But coming are some bad days, filled with heartache and trials. That is the way life is. When they come, we ask God for strength, supernatural joy, and peace, and that He will guide and use us for His glory. Then, when they are over, we rejoice and enjoy. That is the way life is.
I look forward to it all, the slow days and the hard days. God is in one as much as the other. One is for resting, and the other is for growing. The key to enjoying the hard days is not to fret or worry and not to grumble or complain.

Several of my family members have gotten a weighted blanket to sleep under. They weigh anywhere from 10 to 25 lbs and have pockets that have sand or something like that sewn into the blanket. They all told me how wonderful they were and how much better they slept. I am always interested in sleeping more soundly, so I bought one. I got a ten-pounder and figured I could work up to twenty pounds if it worked. The first night I tried it, I went right to sleep, but I had a dream that I was getting buried alive by some bad guys. I woke up clawing out of my grave and found my heavy blanket on the floor. I have slept with it for about five days now and am getting used to it; no more weird dreams. I do seem to be sleeping more soundly, and I am having little problem with my restless leg syndrome any more. I have read that they recommend a blanket weight that is ten percent of your body weight, so I will move up to 15 pounds and then to 20 lbs in the next couple of months. Several other family members want my ten and fifteen-pounders when I go to the 20-pounder. One of the results of the blanket is that I don’t move much in my sleep now. I wake up in the same position I was when I went to sleep. I am sleeping more soundly and seldom wake up until the alarm sounds. Every night, when I climb into bed, I pray a little prayer, thanking the Lord for the day and confessing all known sins to Him. At the end, I say, “Lord, this would be a good night for me to die and go to be with You, but if that isn’t Your will, I will work hard tomorrow for You.” Professional athletes often say, “One game at a time.” I say, “One day at a time.”

I saw someone at the Sportsman’s Show this past week from a distance I haven’t seen for years. I don’t like them very much, so I turned around so as not to have them see me and be forced into a conversation I wouldn’t enjoy. It happened quickly, and what I did was primarily instinctive and unthought-out. After I turned around and walked away, I started thinking about the past as far as this individual was concerned and got emotionally worked up by my thoughts. I got a cup of coffee and some fries from an outside vendor and went and sat in my truck for a while. It wasn’t long before I repented of my bitterness, forgave them, and prayed for God’s blessing in their life. I went back in looking for them and was committed to warmly greeting them and talking about their life and how things were going. I never saw them again, so I assume I would have done well in my encounter with them. As I think about that event today, I am surprised at how easily past offenses stick with us and how quickly negative emotions pop into my heart when I see someone I don’t like from my past. I still don’t like them in that I probably won’t invite them to go fishing with me, but I can still love them, forgive them, and talk to them graciously if I see them again. Living life successfully is living by principles, commitments, and convictions, not emotions. I know what is right before God, and He will give me the strength to live it if I choose to.

I have watched every one of the 59 Super Bowl Games played. The first one was when I was a Junior in High School. The Green Bay Packers won that one and the next, with Bart Star as the quarterback. I watched it at a friend’s house because I was invited and some of my other friends were going. We didn’t have football at the High School I attended; I think it was the first football game I had watched. When I got to college, it was a big deal, and I watched them with a bunch of friends. When I got married, Patty’s Dad, who was a football star at the University of San Francisco, took me to a Raiders game when they were still in Oakland, and we watched 49ers games on television every time they played when we visited them. That is why I am a San Francisco 49ers fan today. I don’t know the actual numbers, but I can’t imagine any other event in our culture with more hoopla around it and more people watching it than the Super Bowl. I also can’t imagine the pressure the starting quarterbacks have on them as they play, the disappointment they feel if they lose, and the glory if they win.
I often wonder what it is going to feel like to stand before Jesus at the “Judgment Seat of Christ,” have my life examined by Him, and receive glory or loss of glory. I think about that event a lot. I have memorized dozens of verses about that event and meditate on them often. I start every day out praying a prayer of commitment, and the closing sentence in my prayer is, “I will live today as if it is my last before standing before You and giving an account of my life and being recompensed by You for what I have done with my life, either good or bad. Please help me to serve You well today.”

Occasionally, something happens that makes me very upset. I can get myself tied in a knot by rehearsing it and going over and over it in my mind. Such angry and bitter thinking is wrong. I have verses memorized that I choose to think about to replace my wrong thinking. Every time my mind goes to the wrong place, I choose to meditate on the designated verses. I also pray a lot for the people I am angry at or the situation that has me upset, and I pray and ask for peace, joy, self-control, and wisdom. It usually doesn’t take long before I am cheerful and happy despite the event I don’t like. Sometimes, the event simply causes me to fret and worry. Many “what if” thoughts pop into my mind that cause stress. Again, I choose to think about certain key verses and pray about the situation. At first the wrong thoughts keep popping into my head, but after awhile after kicking them out repeatedly the thoughts will come less and less often until I have peace.
I have counseled many people who don’t conquer their wrong thinking, and it is only a matter of time before they do or say something stupid that causes the situation to worsen. I visited with a Dad who hadn’t talked with a son for several years. As we discussed it, I saw that it started with a minor conflict that worsened because of undisciplined thinking. When we rehearse an event in our mind, it gets more serious than it is and creates a lot of wrong emotions in us.
The devil is a master at getting into those situations, and by talking to us and hearing him in our thoughts, he accelerates our wrong thinking. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

The Jefferson Baptist Church’s Sportsman’s Show at the Linn County Fairgrounds starts today at 1:00 pm and goes through Sunday. The Portland Sportsman’s Show is next Friday. I am going to both. I will be at the JBC show most of the time it is open, and will help if needed in whatever way I can. The main thing I will do is walk around and pray for the people I see and talk to people as I have the opportunity about our church and Jesus. At the Portland show, I will just walk around, covet the stuff I see, and maybe buy some things I think I need!
I enjoy both of these Shows very much and look forward to going to both with great anticipation. I enjoy fishing and hunting, and that is mostly what these shows are about. I will watch the videos the various guides are showing about a dozen times each. I will pick up and handle dozens of fishing rods, bows, and guns.
I anticipate and look forward to many future events. Patty has been visiting her family in California for a week and is coming home tomorrow; I am looking forward to that. We plan various trips to see our kids and grandkids and look forward to that. I have half a dozen fishing trips and hunting trips on the calendar, and I think about them often.
But what I am looking forward to more than anything is the day I step into heaven, get my new, glorified body, and see Jesus. I think about that future event constantly. Then all my aches and pains will be gone, all the disappointments and trials will be forever over, and I will know joy beyond my ability to comprehend now.

It cost money to get into the Sportsman’s Show but the only requirement to get into heaven is to love Jesus and believe the gospel.